


Wrong Number

by wallflowerchronicles



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF), Video Blogging & YouTube RPF
Genre: 2009!phan, Alternate Universe, Depression, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Masturbation, Phan AU, Phan Fluff, Skype Sex, Slightly angsty fluff, Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-15
Updated: 2014-07-28
Packaged: 2018-02-04 19:11:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1790071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wallflowerchronicles/pseuds/wallflowerchronicles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's spring of 2009 and Dan's phone has just deleted all of his contacts. Thinking that he remembers their number, he texts a friend to complain. Instead, he ends up texting a wrong number that just happens to belong to his favorite youtuber, Amazingphil.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Mature rating applies only to chapter 3.

Phil is supposed to be working on a project. It’s actually one of the last projects he needs to finish before he graduates from uni, but he’s procrastinating online instead. He tells himself that checking twitter and watching other people’s youtube videos is part of maintaining his youtube channel and that he isn’t really being unproductive. But he knows that he’s lying to himself. Despite the endless distractions to be found on the internet, Phil is feeling bored. He sighs and considers returning to work when his phone buzzes on his desk, threatening to migrate its way to the edge. Why the thing has to vibrate three times every time he gets a text message is beyond him. Phil picks the phone up before it falls to the floor and sees that the text is from a number he doesn’t recognize. 

            Mystery person: Fucking tit biscuits! My craptastic phone deleted all of my contacts!

Phil snickers at the language, and figures that the person has texted the wrong number. He types out a reply nonetheless.

            Phil: Sorry, who is this?

            Mystery person: Dan.

Phil doesn’t know anyone named Dan. Definitely a wrong number.

            “Dan”: Wait. This isn’t actually Sam, is it? 

And now “Dan” has figured that out as well. Phil politely confirms this fact.

            Phil: No, sorry!

            Dan: Fuck!

            Dan: Sry to bother you!

 Phil could easily drop the conversation there, but decided to reply one more time.

            Phil: That’s ok!

Phil smiles to himself and sincerely hopes that this Dan person will remember Sam’s actual phone number soon. Or he could probably just Facebook message them and explain what happened. Or DM them on twitter. Yeah, that’s it. But Dan would figure that out on his own, no need to text him the idea. That would be silly. Phil refrains from texting Dan again, even though he is mildly intrigued by the guy with the ‘craptastic’ phone that had so unforgivably deleted his contacts and wronged him greatly. _Or I’m just really bored_ , Phil thinks. Phil decides that the story of the mystery boy with the most creative use of curse words he’d ever seen is worthy of a quick mention on twitter.

            @Amazingphil: Just got wrong number texted by someone with quite a creative mind for swear words. Made me smile though.

The retweets and replies begin to trickle in. Phil continues to procrastinate by reading through them and responded to a few. He soon decides to return to working on his project like he should have been all along. He eventually begins to focus on his work, and the story of Mystery Dan slips from his mind without much of a second thought.

 

~~~

 

 _Just my luck_ , Dan thinks to himself. He thought for sure that he could remember Sam’s number. But no, he had texted some random person instead. Some random person in Manchester, probably, since that’s where Sam’s family lived now. _Crap, that was embarrassing._ Dan just hopes that he didn’t text the f word to some poor old lady. Sometimes it seems to Dan that his life is just one string of embarrassments after another.

Dan opens his laptop and waits for it to connect to the wifi. His laptop is just as craptastic as his phone, Dan supposes. After an unbearably long time, Dan logs in to Facebook and types out a message to Sam. But Sam isn’t online just then, so Dan doesn’t wait for a reply. Instead, he decided to check twitter. After a bit of scrolling, he sees a new tweet from Amazingphil, one of his favorite youtubers. He reads the tweet and gasps audibly.

 _No way! No_ fucking _way!_ It’s got to be the craziest coincidence of all time, but it’s just a coincidence… right? Or is it? Dan tries very hard not to get his hopes up as he checks through Phil’s at replies, searching for something to confirm or deny that he had somehow accidentally texted THE Amazingphil. Then he finds what he’s looking for. Someone had asked Phil what swears had been so funny.

            @Amazingphil: @coolturtles57 something about tit biscuits? Lol.

 _Oh my god oh my god oh my FUCKING god!_ Dan’s heart races and his cheeks flush. What did the ‘lol’ mean? Did Phil think that Dan was actually funny or did he think he was ridiculous? Suddenly, he is struck by a realization. _I have Amazingphil’s phone number_ , he thinks. But Dan doesn’t want to be that kind of creepy fan. He should just let it go. That would be the right thing to do. Dan really likes Phil’s videos, (if he’s being honest, he really likes _Phil_ ,) and he doesn’t want Phil to think that Dan is some kind of stalker. But Dan isn’t a stalker. This was an honest to god coincidence, and surly Phil would realize that. He might even get a kick out of knowing the whole story, that the crazy kid that texted him by accident watches his videos and follows him on twitter. If he plays this right, this could be a golden opportunity. This could be the best thing that’s ever happened in Dan’s whole entire shitty life. Dan picks up his craptastic phone, takes a deep breath, and types out a text.

            Dan: … Phil?

Dan waits to see if he will get a reply. As the seconds tick by, he starts to think that this was a huge mistake. Phil was never going to reply to that! He was certainly going to assume that Dan was some crazy stalker fan. This was never going to end well for Dan, nothing ever did. Life wasn’t some stupid fairytale and this certainly wasn’t Dan’s happy ending. But then his phone dings.

            Phil: Oh wow, do you follow me on twitter?

If it’s possible, Dan’s heart beats even faster now.

            Dan: Yeah, I do :) Your videos are gr8

 _Why in the hell did I say gr8?_ Dan asks himself. _That was so fucking lame and Phil’s going to think I’m a fucking dork… Oh god._

            Phil: Haha. Thanks!

Dan’s head spins. Was Phil freaked out? He really hadn’t wanted to freak Phil out.

            Dan: I’m sry, this is probably really weird. I promise I wn’t give ur # out. This really was an accident, I swear.

            Phil: I appreciate that, Dan. And I believe you. :)

Dan breathes a huge sigh of relief.

             Dan: Thx. I won’t bother you anymore.  I’m really, really sry. I really am.

He waits. And waits. No reply comes. Dan accepts that it’s the end of the exchange. But really, what more could he have asked for? Phil had been nothing but nice to him. _Amazingphil texted me a smily face_ , he realizes. And it was kind of a miracle that Amazingphil had texted him at all. Hell, it was a miracle that Amazingphil’s phone number had somehow been so close to Sam’s.

If anybody had asked him the day before, Dan would have said that he didn’t believe in miracles. Now he wasn’t sure. This whole thing was the weirdest, yet most astounding roller coaster of emotions he had ever experienced. And it was probably the best fucking day of Dan’s life. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: DEPRESSION.  
> Things get a bit angsty as we discover that Dan struggles with depression, but this is still primarily fluff.

When Dan wakes up the next day, he has to take a moment to convince himself that yesterday hadn’t just been a dream. He had accidentally texted AmazingPhil. And admitted that he was a fan. And probably scared the crap out of the guy. _I am such a twat!_ Dan thinks as he tries to keep himself from checking his phone in the hopes that Phil had somehow texted him sometime during the night. He checks it anyway.

 

(0)messages

 

Yeah, he had definitely creeped Phil out. And he couldn’t even apologize for it because he’s promised Phil that he wouldn’t bother him anymore. _Fuck my life_ , he thinks, _just when something really cool happens, I have to and fuck it up. Typical._

He tries to go about his day as if the whole thing had been a dream, but it’s hard to do. When Phil tweets something that afternoon about bees, Dan wants to reply and say that bees are ok, but wasps are tiny winged demons that could only come directly from the depths of hell. But he doesn’t say anything of the sort. He doesn’t say anything at all. Dan worries that Phil might see the ‘dan’ in ‘danisnotonfire’ and put two and two together. The only thing that could make this worse is Phil finding out what a looser Dan really is.

Yesterday, Dan felt like the luckiest person in the world, but today he just feels like curling up in a corner and hiding from his own embarrassment. _This is why good things never happen to me. I always fuck them up. I don’t deserve them._

Then, out of nowhere, he hears that annoying as fuck dinging sound that indicates he’s gotten a text. Dan practically lunges to the other end of his bed to grab his phone. But it’s just his mother telling him that she’s running late or something. That’s probably her way of asking him to cook dinner for her without actually asking. He hardly has the energy to care, but he does it anyway.

Late that evening, Dan’s phone dings again. He doesn’t jump up this time, honestly trying not to hope for what he had no right to hope for. But this time, the sound actually does signal the manifestation of his illicit desires in text message form.

            Phil: Just curious, do I know you at all? Would I recognize your twitter name maybe?

Dan really wasn’t expecting to ever hear from Phil again. He really wasn’t. And now Phil is asking for his twitter handle so that he can judge him and figure out that Dan is just a stupid, awkward teenager. But he isn’t going to just give in, he decides.  

            Dan: Er, maybe? You replied to me on twitter once.

            Phil: Really? Then maybe I can figure it out with a few clues? If I ask a few questions?

            Dan: Like a game?

            Phil: Yeah! Could be fun. Unless you don’t want me to know who you are.

            Phil: You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.

Phil just gave him an easy out. But Dan no longer want’s to take it. Phil seems to genuinely want to get to know him for whatever reason. He thinks it could be _fun._ And somewhere deep down, Dan wants that too.

            Dan: No, it’ll be fun! But u only get 3 guesses.

            Phil: Ok. How many questions do I get to ask?

            Dan: 3?

            Phil. Alright. 1) When did I reply to you?

            Dan: April

Dan is happy with that answer. It is specific enough to be useful as a clue, not so specific that it would make the game too easy.

            Phil: April of this year?

            Dan: Is that your second question?

            Phil: NO! It’s a follow-up question. For clarification.

            Dan: We agreed to three questions, Phil.

Dan doesn’t know where that sudden surge of confidence came from, but he is glad that he held his ground. He wants Phil to get to know the real him, not some “fangirl” version of himself that does whatever Phil asks.

            Phil: Ok, fine. 2) Are there any numbers in your twitter name?

            Dan: No. Just letters.

He offered more than had been asked, Dan realizes as he waits for Phil to ask his third question. He had eliminated not only numbers, but also underscores. That really would narrow it down.

            Phil: 3) Is your name part of it?

_Well, shit._

            Dan: …maybe

            Phil: I’ll take that as a yes!

Dan waits. He knows it won’t take long now. His phone dings again a few minutes later.

            Phil: danisnotonfire ?

Instead of texting back, Dan logs on to twitter.

            @danisnotonfire: @AmazingPhil haha you found mee!

Phil follows him within seconds. Then DM’s him.

            AmazingPhil: Do I win a prize??

            danisnotonfire: You win… a baby unicorn

            AmazingPhil: Yay! :D

Dan found himself smiling, too.

 

~~~

 

 _danisnotonfire_.

Phil did recognize the name. He scrolls through Dan’s twitter and finds himself actually laughing out loud a few times. Dan was just as funny as his first accidental text to Phil had indicated. A bit cynical, but genuinely funny. He picks up his phone to text Dan again.

            Phil: You’re really funny, Dan.

            Dan: Thx, I try :P

He’s definitely glad that he decided to text Dan today and find out more about him. Dan seems really cool so far. Phil still couldn’t believe that his mystery texter from yesterday had turned out to be one of his subscribers. He did have a fairly large audience now, but it was still so insignificant compared to, like, the whole country or something. It was so astronomically unlikely that it had made Phil rather curious. And now that he was discovering who Dan really is, he finds himself wanting to know more and more.

Phil finds a picture of Dan on his twitter. He notices Dan’s brown hair that is cut very similarly to Phil’s. He sees that Dan has brown eyes that match his hair, tanned skin, and full lips. _Wow_ , Phil thinks, _Dan’s hot_. And definitely younger than Phil. He notices that, too. He scrolls back up a bit and finds a tweet he noticed earlier in which Dan mentioned his birthday. His 18 th birthday. Which was last week. Phil starts to say happy belated birthday, but decides against it. Maybe that was too personal. He then notices a tweet mentioning Muse, Phil’s favorite band.

            Phil: You have good taste in music as well.

            Dan: yeah? good to hear

As Phil continues to peruse Dan’s twitter, he sees less of funny, happy Dan and more of cynical Dan. And sometimes cynical Dan seems like downright depressed Dan. It makes Phil’s heart hurt a little.

“… it’s like I don’t  have any real friends,” Phil reads, “… I’m such a fail at life … y do I bother trying? … no one cares … I always fuck everything up … I hate my life”.

But then Phil finds a funny tweet again.

            @danisnotonfire: sacrificing mini marshmallows to the hot chocolate gods XD

 _That’s adorable_ , Phil finds himself thinking. He decides that he’s read enough of Dan’s tweets for now. He texts Dan again:

            Phil: That’s your youtube account, too, isn’t it? Danisnotonfire?

            Dan: yeah. It’s really lame, I know. I was 15 and thought I was cool.

            Phil: I don’t think it’s lame.

Dan clearly had a rather low opinion of himself. Phil certainly doesn’t see why, but he knows that it is probably more complicated than that. He knows that depressed people don’t choose to be sad any more than tall people choose to be tall.

Phil opens a new tab on his browser and finds his way to Dan’s youtube profile.

            Phil: Ah, no videos?

            Dan: god, no! I’m not talented like you.

That hurts a bit, too. Phil wants to say that Dan clearly has a very creative mind and that he could probably just as good of a youtuber as Phil if he set his mine to it. But Phil also knows that Dan would find a way to disagree. It would only led to Dan putting himself down again.

            Phil: Maybe someday I’ll change your mind about that ;)

 _Oh NO!_ That was NOT supposed to be a winky face! _Undo! Unsend! Something!_ He should NOT be flirting with a SUBSCRIBER he barely knew. Especially not one who is four years younger than him, whether or not he is technically a legal adult. But as much as Phil wants to snatch that text out of cyberspace before it flies away to Dan, that’s just not how phones work.

            Dan: haha. We’ll see. maybe I’ll talk to u tomorrow?

            Phil: I’d like that.

            Dan: Me too ;)

 _Was that a winky face? Yes, yes it was._ It was strange how one tiny symbol could make Phil feel so excited and nervous at the same time. Dan seemed… really cool, actually, and Phil wanted to talk to him tomorrow. And the next day. And hopefully the day after that, too. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed! Please leave comments; that would make me happy.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please see updated tags for warnings.

It has been about four months since Dan had accidentally texted Phil. Dan now officially considered that day to be the best day of his life. So far, at least.

Since then, Phil had friended him on his personal facebook, convinced him to start a dailybooth account, added him on MSN messenger, and just a few days ago, asked him if he would like to skype.  They’ve talked almost every day. It has been a whirlwind of a summer.

Dan had initially said ‘omg yes!’ to the skype question, but now that the proposed date and time have actually rolled around, he is incredibly nervous. As he waits, he considers slamming his piece-of-shit laptop shut and texting Phil to say that something has come up.  Then a green dot appears next the username Phil_Lester. Too late for excuses, then.

 _Oh god._ Dan starts to feel even more apprehensive when the actual video chat request pops up. _It’s fine. You’ve been looking forward to this. It’ll be fine._ He clicks accept.

Dan takes a deep breath while the stream loads. At the last second, he panics and covers his webcam with him finger. Phil’s face appears on the screen. His blue eyes seem happy and excited. He smiles and waves hello, but then his face falls.

“Dan, are you there?” he asks. His voice is very familiar to Dan, but this will be Phil’s first time hearing Dan speak.

“…yes,” Dan answers abashedly.

“I can’t see you. Is your camera working?”

Dan notices that he doesn’t ask something like ‘did you turn your camera on?’, because Phil knows that Dan isn’t some idiot that doesn’t know how to turn on a webcam. He respects Dan despite their age difference, and that means a lot.

“No, it’s working, I just… um, well, I just have my finger over the lens is all.” _I sound like a complete twat and I’m embarrassing myself._

“Oh, okay,” Phil says as if this sort of video chatting behavior is perfectly normal.

“I know that I’m being ridiculously stupid,” Dan says, “I just sort of freaked out, and now I seem like a total arse. I’m sorry,” he adds.

“If you don’t want to do this, we don’t have to, Dan,” Phil offers. He is always so considerate, Dan realizes. He loves that about Phil, but it also reminds him that he’ll never be that good of a person. Dan just can’t find the energy to care that much.

“I do want to,” Dan says, “I’m just nervous. And now I’ve made a big deal of it for no reason.” _Good going, Dan._

“But there’s nothing to be scared of, and it’s not like I don’t already know what you look like,” Phil reminds him. He has seen pictures of Dan, yes, but this is entirely different. In a photo, you can pose a certain way and make a certain face, and if it still ends up looking like crap, you can delete it a try again. Live video is more risky, more intimate. “Unless you’ve recently sprouted a narwhal horn or vampire fangs. I’d probably cover my webcam, too, if that happened to me.”

Dan giggles, and Phil smiles at the delightful sound. Dan moves his finger away and smiles back sheepishly.

“Well, well, look who it is!”

“Hi,” Dan says.

“Hello, Dan,” Phil responds. Dan realizes that he’s never heard Phil say his name before. He likes the way it sounds in his northern accent. It’s sharper, and there’s slightly less pull on the vowel. “How was your day?” Phil asks.

Dan tells Phil about his boring day at work with all out the annoying customers that he had to pretend to be nice to, and how most of his friends from school will be leaving for uni in the next few days. They aren’t great friends or close friends, but they’re people to hang out with. It seems like he is the only one taking a year out, and now there will be no one to occupy his free time. Phil listens attentively.

Dan readjusts his hair for probably the millionth time, though he’d spent at least an hour ironing his haphazardly curly hair completely flat and hair spraying it half to death not that long ago.

“Dan, you look fine, I promise,” Phil assures him. “More than fine,” he adds.

Dan blushes. “Sorry,” he says, “I’m just fidgety. Or obsessive.”

“Well, you are a perfectionist.”

“Shut up!” Dan says, but not in a serious way.

“I didn’t say it was a bad thing,” Phil clarifies. Dan gives him a small smile in return, but he’s looking down rather than at the camera. “It’s one of the reasons you’d make a darn good youtuber.”

This gets Dan’s attention, and he looks up at Phil. He’s said as much before, but Dan’s never given the idea much serious thought. “I don’t know, I mean, what would I even talk about?” _My life is the epitome of boring and I’m not creative enough to make it seem less shit._

“All of the stories that you tell me to make me laugh, maybe?”

“What, like how my grandma talks to her dog and impersonates its responses OUT LOUD?”

“Exactly,” Phil says with a giggle. “And then you could come to youtube gatherings with me! Like the one in London on Halloween. It would be so much fun to have you there with me.”

“Does this mean you want us to meet in person?”  Dan is stunned. They’d never discussed that possibility before.

“Of course I do! I mean, if you want to,” Phil responds.

“Are you kidding? I’d love that!”

“We’ll make it happen, then.”

They continued talking, but Dan remains distracted by the idea of meeting Phil in person and by the image of those blue eyes that he wanted to go swimming in. Dan had never dated a guy or done anything with a guy, though he’d realized a while ago that he was at least a little but bisexual.

Sometimes it seemed that Phil thought of him in that way, too, but other times it seemed impossible. _What would AmazingPhil want with some stupid kid like me?_ But now he wants to meet Dan in person, and that is surely a good sign. All Dan knows for sure is that he wants to meet Phil, too, and that he wants to make skyping a regular thing in the mean time.

 

~~~

 

Phil reaches for his phone and types out a text to Dan. It seems like he’s been editing all day, and he’s still not done. But he decides to stop for the day since it’s past 11 pm and talk to Dan. It’s the last day of September, about a week after they’d first skyped.

 

            Phil: Can you skype tonight?

 

He’s decided to tell Dan about an idea that’s been floating about in his head for the past several days.

 

            Dan: yeah, sure. give me 5 mins?

            Phil: Ok!

 

Phil had originally thought that it would be best to meet up with Dan in public, at an event like the Halloween gathering. But he also wondered if they might like to have a bit more privacy. And then he remembered that his parents are going on holiday soon, which seemed like too good of an opportunity to pass up.

Dan comes online a few minutes later, and Phil accepts his video call.

“Hey, what’s up?” Dan asks. He is sat on his bed, just like Phil.

“Would you consider coming to visit me in Manchester?” Phil blurts out. “My parents are going away in a few weeks, so you could stay at my house, and we could hang out and watch movies, or…” Phil trails off, noticing the worried look on Dan’s face.

“That sounds really great, Phil, it’s just… I’ll have to convince my parents to let me go, and figure out some way to buy the tickets…”

“I know the train tickets would probably be expensive, but I can pay for half or something,” Phil offers. “I really want you to come.”

“No, I’ll figure out a way,” Dan says. “I’ll make it work.”

“Really?” Phil smiles widely.

“Really.”

They carry on talking about random things, and have a small squabble over what sort of sound a rhinoceros would make. Dan argues that Phil’s impression sounds more like an elephant than and rhino, and they eventually agree to disagree.

At some point, Dan reaches his hand up through the bottom of his shirt to rest on his opposite shoulder, exposing most of his torso in the process.

“Are you trying to seduce me, Dan?” Phil asks with a grin.

Dan pauses, then looks back up at the camera. “What if I was?”

“Then I’d have to say it’s working,” Phil admits.

Without saying anything, Dan stares into the camera and slowly takes off his shirt. Phil feels his heart beat faster.

“You’re so beautiful, Dan,” Phil says quietly.

“Stop,” Dan insists, closing his eyes and shaking his head slightly.

“But you are,” counters Phil as he removes his own shirt. “Everybody has flaws and things they’re insecure about. I certainly do. But it doesn’t make me any less attracted to you.” Phil knows that Dan still struggles with insecurity and depression, and he knows that those things won’t simple go away just because he shows Dan affection. But he still tries, little by little, to make Dan see what Phil sees when he looks at him.

Dan’s eyes widen. He bits down on his lower lip. It’s ridiculously hot. Dan moves his laptop closer to his chest, then back further away again. It takes a moment to register, but Phil realizes what it happening.

“Are you getting hard, Dan?” he asks.

“Um, maybe I should go…”

“No, you don’t have to.”

“Are you suggesting that we…”

“If you want,” says Phil. He doesn’t want to pressure Dan into something he’s not ready for, but they’d been casually flirting all summer, and he is fairly certain that Dan wants this, too. Phil spreads his legs a bit and places his laptop between them. Dan does the same, then unzips his jeans and tugs them down a bit. He reaches into his pants and begins to fondle himself while staring at Phil.

“Just imagine that I’m there, stroking you, and then taking you into my mouth.”

“Phil,” Dan moans quietly as his hand begins to move faster. Phil starts to palm himself while he watches Dan come undone. Eventually, he starts to properly stroke his own erection.

“Imagine me licking and sucking at your tip,” Phil adds. “And then teasing your rim with my finger.” It doesn’t take much after this suggestion to send Dan completely over the edge. He throws his head back and moans as he comes.

The sight brings Phil closer, but even after Dan works through his own orgasm and looks back at the screen, he’s still not quite there.

“That was incredible! I can’t wait to do that in person, Phil,” Dan says. “I’m sorry, I’m really bad at this. I don’t know what to say…”

“Just… would you bite your lip again for me?” Phil requests.

Dan complies, and the image is just what Phil needs to finish. After taking a moment to recover, Phil leans back and places his laptop on his chest.

“That was amazing,” Phil says.

Dan laughs. “No, you’re amazing, remember?” he says. Then they’re both laughing. “This has seriously been the best day ever, Phil,” he adds. “And who knows? Maybe it’s all uphill from here.”

Phil doesn’t think he’s ever heard Dan be so positive about the future. He knows that nothing’s ever quite that easy, and that there are always ups and downs, but he does hope that things are getting better for Dan. He hopes that someday soon they’ll be together, and not just for a few days at a time. He doesn’t know it yet, but Dan wants that, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hop you enjoyed! Please leave comments and tell me what you thought. 
> 
> This is the last full chapter; part 4 will be a short epilogue.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the epilogue to Wrong Number, but it could also be read as a stand-alone drabble.

_October 19, 2009_

 Dan is sat on a train that is slowly but surely lumbering along to the north. He is filled with excitement and anticipation. Something tells him that this day will be a turning point in his life. He’s been waiting for this trip for weeks, but is some ways he’s been waiting for it his entire life.

He’s still depressed, that hasn’t changed. Dan isn’t naïve enough to think a guy could just come along and fix that somehow. But Phil understands that too, and it makes a difference. Now Dan has someone to call whenever he wants to talk. Someone who will never judge him. Someone he now thinks of as the best friend he never had.

It’s hard to say exactly what Dan and Phil are to one another. Clearly they were friends, and clearly they were also something more than that. There has always been a spark of mutual attraction between them. They haven’t really talked about a proper relationship, but despite the physical distance between, it’s something that Dan thinks he would like to try, if Phil will have him.

Dan pulls out his phone and sends a text to Phil telling him that he is about 30 minutes away. Phil reads it from a bus on his way to meet Dan at Piccadilly Station.

Train and bus grow closer and closer with each passing minute. Nerves flutter and hearts race as the train slows to a stop. Dan stands on the precipice of the train door and of his entire future. He takes a deep breath and a hurried step forward, then another and another and another. He’s running toward Phil, who’s looking in the completely wrong direction, and crashes into him.

Phil is startled, but eagerly returns Dan’s embrace. They hold on for longer than might be considered appropriate by the people swarming around them, but they couldn’t care less. It is easily the best hug of Dan’s life, and he never wants to let go. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading :)
> 
> I'm [wallflowerchronicles](http://wallflowerchronicles.tumblr.com/) on tumblr if you want to come say hi.


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